Marketing

We just heard from a user in an area with a lot of Scottish customers who shared something he had just tried for the first time. He also gave us permission to share the idea with our other users.

Knowing that Robbie Burns Day (important to people who are interested in Scottish heritage and history) was approaching he searched his customer database for all names that started with "M". He then quickly pared the list down to names that looked Scottish (MacDougal, MacLennan, etc.) manually.

No doubt this left many Scots out (Stewarts, Campbells, etc.) but it was a quick way to do an experiment. He thinks that next year he may start with the full list and select all Scottish sounding names manually.

He then sent these customers an email reminding them about Robbie Burns Day and got some orders as a result. He also received some emails thanking him for the reminder and he believes that even when he did not get an order his email strengthened the bond with the customer.

I wish we could have got this one to you sooner but we only just heard. Please mark this in your calendar for next year!

PS Burns Day is January 25 each year.

There is a very interesting article on the MarketingProfs website about how referencing your loyalty program in marketing emails can improve performance dramatically.

What does this mean for you? If you are using the points program feature in FloristWare (and we hope that you are) you should reference it in your email campaigns to improve your results.

We are pleased to sponsor Rick Rivers at the Virginia Professional
Florist Association show this weekend in Lake Charlottesville, VA.

Rick has owned a flower shop for 26 years. His store has been on the cutting edge of social media and has been using unique marketing strategies for many years. He has published 3 books, “Blooming At The Top”, 12 Strategies To Double Your Sales” and “No Fishing in My Pond”.

If you are at this event be sure to check out Rick's presentation for some terrific marketing ideas.

Would you like a written guarantee that your average sale will increase by 20% or more? Tim Huckabee, the President of FloralStrategies.com makes and keeps such a promise! You may know Tim from his column, Flower Shop: CSI, in Floral Management magazine or heard him speak at national conventions since 1997.

As a special bonus to our valued users we are underwriting 40% of Tim's fee for you to get him in your shop during the month of April. The discounted rate is $595 within 200 miles of NYC, $895 outside that range. Contact FloristWare now at 800.983.6184 for further details and to save a date for your shop. This is a one-time special and the training sessions are being filled on a first-come, first served basis. Think about how much more you can earn by adding $10 to $20 more to every sale!

Most florists have to raise their prices for Valentines to cover their increased costs. Typically these florists lower their prices back to normal soon - sometimes immediately - after the holiday.

Some customers may know this and assume that they will get better deals on February 15th. How can that help you? Maybe you shouldn't roll prices all the way back right away - customers may not question a higher price just because they are confident they are saving money by waiting until after Valentines.

Follow the link to a great article on how you can profit from the assumptions and decisions customers make.

There is a great article on the Amex OPEN site called 7 Key Lessons Super Bowl Ads Can Teach Small Business Owners.

All the points are good but two really resonated for us:

1. Don’t Risk Everything At Once
In small business marketing, it is far safer and more effective to spread your bets by testing many different marketing methods... For your small business, it is far more effective to take patient interim steps. After your company has learned what works and doesn’t work in your marketing campaign, plot the next step. With limited capital, small businesses can’t afford the risk of a “one and done” strategy.

Florists frequently commit a huge portion of their annual marketing budgets to telephone directories. The payments are typically spread out over a year and often leave little left over for other marketing efforts. Directories are great but it may be worth considering devoting a little less to a single year-long effort so that you can stay agile and explore some different opportunities.

2. Track How The Marketing Tactic Performed
Most companies have a variety of things they do to promote their business. Spending money on marketing is worthless unless your business knows what worked and what did not work. It is essential to get feedback on all aspects of your campaign.

FloristWare can help with this one - the AdTracker feature is a powerful marketing tool that monitors the performance of each of your campaigns and even shows you sales generated per dollar invested. It helps you find out what works and what doesn't so you can target your marketing budget where it will provide the greatest returns.

There is a great article on the Business News Daily Site about Search Engine Marketing and how it is vital for brick-and-mortar businesses.

When you are looking ahead to 2011 please give some thought to taking some (or maybe most) of the budget that you used to direct to more traditional forms of marketing (like telephone directories, print advertising, etc) and exploring some of these newer options.

We are pleased to be sponsoring a special free webinar from Huckabee AIFSE - sales trainer and founder of Floral Strategies for our users. It will concentrate on increasing average order value. This is the perfect time to review this information so you can take full advantage of it as we head into the busy Valentines period.

This session is being presented to our users free of charge to thank them for their support & loyalty and help them off to a great start in 2011.

Some of our favorite users create short video clips that they then post online to help promote their stores. The article 5 Sixty Second Video Ideas to Help Sell Your Business from the Amex OPEN Forum offers some great points that will help anyone who is thinking about trying this.

We heard from a few FloristWare users today who were looking to send one more e-mail blast prior to Christmas.

This is a great idea. Until recently many shoppers seemed to believe they had more time to shop than they actually did. Now they realize time is running out and they are starting to panic. This is the ideal time to catch them - you can make all their shopping problems go away with a quick phone call.

But there isn't much time. You will need to get the message out asap. At this point - two days before Christmas - that means e-mail.

Fortunately FloristWare has great tools for creating lists of customers and then sending them marketing e-mails. And, in a situation like this, there are some advanced features that can really help. For example:

1. When you create your list consider excluding people who have already purchased in the last week or so. If they have purchased that recently there is a good chance they already bought something from you for Christmas and you don't want to risk alienating them by seeming greedy.

2. Look for customers that are flagged as being interested in Christian holidays - there is a feature for this.

When it comes time to write the content there are some great e-mail marketing tips here. This section in particular is very good:

Instead of pitching an blatant sales message you use a gentle tone so the email marketing message reads like a customer service-oriented message.

Don't go with a "Buy! Buy! Buy!" approach. Instead explain that you are ready and able to help make their last-minute shopping problems go away!

Good luck.